Ensure your idyllic holiday retreat is safe

More British families are opting to forgo an overseas holiday again this summer – but many of the flats and cottages being used for holiday lets will have older gas fired boilers. The Heating Helpline warns of the dangers of an older boiler and urges holiday homeowners and letting agents to have their boilers checked and serviced.

Tens of thousands of British families will be renting flats and cottages in the British Isles this summer and the Heating Helpline (www.heatinghelpline.org.uk), the home heating advice service backed by the Heating and Ventilating Contractors’ Association (HVCA), says it’s vitally important that holiday homes with gas appliances have been regularly checked and serviced. Bob Towse, technical and safety consultant for the Heating Helpline, comments, “Hardly a week goes by without another report of someone killed or made seriously ill by fumes from an old or poorly maintained gas boiler and each year, in the UK alone, around 50 people still needlessly die from preventable gas-related carbon monoxide poisoning, the primary culprit being defective gas appliances such as gas cookers and boilers. “The fact remains that holiday home owners or their letting agents need to be aware that if they have an old boiler or other gas appliances in their holiday accommodation some of these could be potentially dangerous. “Anyone that rents out holiday accommodation must ensure that gas appliances are maintained in good condition and are subject to annual safety checks; failure to properly maintain a boiler means that, apart from putting holidaymakers’ lives at risk, owners and landlords could face serious punishment because courts have the power to impose severe penalties in respect of each offence. “Gas appliances in rented accommodation should be serviced annually in accordance with manufacturers’ instructions by a Gas Safe registered installer in addition to having annual gas safety checks carried out on them. “Anyone renting holiday accommodation in the UK has a right to ask the owner or landlord of the property to see a copy of the gas safety certificate that is issued after the annual safety check, and the holidaymaker should not hesitate to contact the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) if the landlord cannot provide this; indeed we suggest that it is in the holiday home owner’s interest to display this certificate prominently for all their clients to see. “We strongly advise that any owner or managing agent of UK holiday accommodation with gas appliances that are more than ten years old, or which have been infrequently serviced in the past, should contact an HVCA member to get the system inspected”. All HVCA members are independently checked to verify their technical competence, commercial capability and customer service levels. HVCA members that operate in the domestic sector are all Gas Safe registered and members of TrustMark, the government-backed scheme that makes it easy for consumers to find reliable, reputable trades people. To find a reputable heating engineer and HVCA member in your area, contact the free Heating Helpline on 0800 840 4069 or visit the website at: www.heatinghelpline.org.uk. Ends